Fraud suspect arrives in O.C. on extradition

Two weeks after his arrest, a former Dana Point yacht broker accused of stealing $1.5 million from local residents returned to Orange County on Friday afternoon on extradition from Florida.

Edward Fitzgerald, escorted by two members of the Orange County Sheriff's Department, was booked into the main jail in Santa Ana and is awaiting arraignment, said Sean O'Brien, the deputy district attorney who is prosecuting the case. Fitzgerald's bail has been set at $1.6 million.

Fitzgerald disappeared in July 2009, suspected of using his company, Dana Island Yacht Sales and Charters, to secure loans from people under the false pretense of selling and purchasing yachts. His bank accounts had been emptied, leaving some of his investors out thousands of dollars.

He is charged with defrauding 26 people between 2007 and July 2009.

Fitzgerald, 60, was arrested May 10 in Delray Beach, Fla., through a coordinated effort between the Orange County District Attorney's Office and Delray Beach law enforcement. The District Attorney's Office traced Fitzgerald to Florida in July after discovering he had forfeited his California driver's license to the state of Florida.

Fitzgerald did not fight extradition to California.

O'Brien said the earliest Fitzgerald could be arraigned is Tuesday, since Monday is the Memorial Day holiday. At arraignment, Fitzgerald will be given a copy of the charges against him and will be assigned a public defender if he does not yet have an attorney, O'Brien said.

Fitzgerald is charged with more than 50 felony counts, including 17 counts of grand theft. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 58 years in state prison.

For investigator Glenn Mitchell, who has worked on the case since 2011, the upcoming arraignment is rewarding.

"We face a lot of challenges sometimes when we work these cases; a lot of times the only kind of reward we get is when ... there's prosecution," Mitchell said.